Post by eilisnail on Jun 1, 2016 20:47:59 GMT
Bear with me, this will be long...
So yesterday I took delivery of three more (absolutely gorgeous and very friendly!) baby fulica from snails4you - one jadatzi, one jade and one normal. I intend to (carefully) breed my snails when they're grown up, so I wanted to have two of each colour. She had no rodatzi, so I ordered one from a different seller on ebay (after confirming that it was unlikely to be closely related to my current rodatzi, Charlie), which I expect to receive tomorrow.
I gave the snails a wee rinse and let them crawl around on my hand for a while. Then I put them into the tank with the other four fulica. Their food bowl was getting a bit icky so I decided to clean it out and put in some fresh food. After checking (see below...) there were no snails in it, I closed the tank, took the bowl into the kitchen and emptied it into the bin. I then cleaned it, put in some fresh fruit and veg and returned it to the tank. I counted the snails - six. Bill must be burrowing, which he does a lot. Fine, I won't disturb him.
So I went to bed last night, and I got up this morning and took a very exciting snail delivery - two adult archachatina marginata ovum (originally wild caught), again from snails4you (there's a small chance I'm developing a giant snail addiction). After squeeing over them for about an hour, I put them into their temporary home of a large plastic box. I checked on the fulica tank. I could see three half-buried and couldn't see the rest of them at all. Fine, I thought. They normally burrow during the day, and I hardly ever see them all when I look in unless it's the middle of the night or I go looking for them. I went back to work, and once I was finished (about seven o'clock) I went to take out the seven fulica and see how they all were.
I readily found Ron, Percy and Charlie, three of my four original fulica. Next I found Audrey and Fleur (two of the new ones) slightly buried in the substrate, and eventually I managed to dig out teeny tiny baby Hermione. I continued to dig through the substrate, not particularly worried since I've found Bill right at the bottom before.
Well, I still couldn't find him. At this stage I was starting to get a little concerned, but I kept telling myself it was fine, there was no way he could have escaped. I carefully put down the six snails I was holding on the overturned lid of the tank, took out the food bowl and piece of cork bark, and began to search a little more fervently.
I couldn't find him.
Next, I emptied out all the soil, little by little with my fingertips. He wasn't in the tank. At this point, I started panicking. I put all the soil back in little by little, hoping I'd just missed him, but he wasn't there. I checked in the cepaea hortensis tank - nothing but cepaea hortensis. I checked in the cepaea nemoralis tank - nothing but cepaea nemoralis and OMG EGGS! I'd have been really excited about them except I was frantic about Bill. I went through the soil from the fulica tank again - nothing. After putting the six fulica back in and closing the tank, I commenced a frantic manhunt (snailhunt?).
I looked behind and under and on top of and inside all the furniture in the room with the snails. Nothing. I dismantled the printer. Nothing. I went into the bathroom to the sink where I give them their baths, took out the u-bend and searched the innards of the sink. Nothing. I looked in all the bathroom cabinets. I looked in the washing machine (dunno how he would have gotten in there but I was desperate at this stage). Unsurprisingly, nothing.
Then I remembered throwing out the bowl of food yesterday. I had checked it carefully, hadn't I? And Bill's a big enough snail, I would have seen him. Would I?
I got out a fresh rubbish sack and emptied, little by little, the contents of my kitchen bin into it. About two-thirds of the (icky) way down, I saw Bill, lounging on the side of the inside of the bin bag, looking quite contented! Sobbing furiously I took him out and apologised profusely and I ran him under the tap and he came out of his shell and made his funny little snaily face and I almost kissed him. My cats, meanwhile, looked on with somewhat disdainful amusement. I returned Bill to the fulica tank, counted the snails VERY CAREFULLY, and made myself a very strong cup of tea. And now, here I am, telling the only people who will understand just how terrified and worried I was. I've always considered myself a responsible and conscientious person, and a very careful pet owner, so I'm pretty disgusted with myself (but VERY glad the situation had a happy ending). I could so easily have taken out the trash earlier and he'd be gone forever. I'll never again close the tank without making sure I can see all of the snails!
So now, everything's okay. I have seven happy fulica, and Bill seems to be none the worse for his little adventure. In fact, it was very warm and moist in the bin - he probably thought he was on a luxury holiday! I have two absolutely BEAUTIFUL marginata ovum (one with shell length 13cm, the other 15cm, pictures coming soon...), twelve wonderful cepaea and MY FIRST EVER CLUTCH OF EGGS! All in all, a good day, even if my heart is still going a mile a minute.
(tl;dr: I'm a bad snail mom and I lost Bill. I found him chilling out in the bin, and I also found a clutch cepaea nemoralis eggs. All snails now accounted for.)
So yesterday I took delivery of three more (absolutely gorgeous and very friendly!) baby fulica from snails4you - one jadatzi, one jade and one normal. I intend to (carefully) breed my snails when they're grown up, so I wanted to have two of each colour. She had no rodatzi, so I ordered one from a different seller on ebay (after confirming that it was unlikely to be closely related to my current rodatzi, Charlie), which I expect to receive tomorrow.
I gave the snails a wee rinse and let them crawl around on my hand for a while. Then I put them into the tank with the other four fulica. Their food bowl was getting a bit icky so I decided to clean it out and put in some fresh food. After checking (see below...) there were no snails in it, I closed the tank, took the bowl into the kitchen and emptied it into the bin. I then cleaned it, put in some fresh fruit and veg and returned it to the tank. I counted the snails - six. Bill must be burrowing, which he does a lot. Fine, I won't disturb him.
So I went to bed last night, and I got up this morning and took a very exciting snail delivery - two adult archachatina marginata ovum (originally wild caught), again from snails4you (there's a small chance I'm developing a giant snail addiction). After squeeing over them for about an hour, I put them into their temporary home of a large plastic box. I checked on the fulica tank. I could see three half-buried and couldn't see the rest of them at all. Fine, I thought. They normally burrow during the day, and I hardly ever see them all when I look in unless it's the middle of the night or I go looking for them. I went back to work, and once I was finished (about seven o'clock) I went to take out the seven fulica and see how they all were.
I readily found Ron, Percy and Charlie, three of my four original fulica. Next I found Audrey and Fleur (two of the new ones) slightly buried in the substrate, and eventually I managed to dig out teeny tiny baby Hermione. I continued to dig through the substrate, not particularly worried since I've found Bill right at the bottom before.
Well, I still couldn't find him. At this stage I was starting to get a little concerned, but I kept telling myself it was fine, there was no way he could have escaped. I carefully put down the six snails I was holding on the overturned lid of the tank, took out the food bowl and piece of cork bark, and began to search a little more fervently.
I couldn't find him.
Next, I emptied out all the soil, little by little with my fingertips. He wasn't in the tank. At this point, I started panicking. I put all the soil back in little by little, hoping I'd just missed him, but he wasn't there. I checked in the cepaea hortensis tank - nothing but cepaea hortensis. I checked in the cepaea nemoralis tank - nothing but cepaea nemoralis and OMG EGGS! I'd have been really excited about them except I was frantic about Bill. I went through the soil from the fulica tank again - nothing. After putting the six fulica back in and closing the tank, I commenced a frantic manhunt (snailhunt?).
I looked behind and under and on top of and inside all the furniture in the room with the snails. Nothing. I dismantled the printer. Nothing. I went into the bathroom to the sink where I give them their baths, took out the u-bend and searched the innards of the sink. Nothing. I looked in all the bathroom cabinets. I looked in the washing machine (dunno how he would have gotten in there but I was desperate at this stage). Unsurprisingly, nothing.
Then I remembered throwing out the bowl of food yesterday. I had checked it carefully, hadn't I? And Bill's a big enough snail, I would have seen him. Would I?
I got out a fresh rubbish sack and emptied, little by little, the contents of my kitchen bin into it. About two-thirds of the (icky) way down, I saw Bill, lounging on the side of the inside of the bin bag, looking quite contented! Sobbing furiously I took him out and apologised profusely and I ran him under the tap and he came out of his shell and made his funny little snaily face and I almost kissed him. My cats, meanwhile, looked on with somewhat disdainful amusement. I returned Bill to the fulica tank, counted the snails VERY CAREFULLY, and made myself a very strong cup of tea. And now, here I am, telling the only people who will understand just how terrified and worried I was. I've always considered myself a responsible and conscientious person, and a very careful pet owner, so I'm pretty disgusted with myself (but VERY glad the situation had a happy ending). I could so easily have taken out the trash earlier and he'd be gone forever. I'll never again close the tank without making sure I can see all of the snails!
So now, everything's okay. I have seven happy fulica, and Bill seems to be none the worse for his little adventure. In fact, it was very warm and moist in the bin - he probably thought he was on a luxury holiday! I have two absolutely BEAUTIFUL marginata ovum (one with shell length 13cm, the other 15cm, pictures coming soon...), twelve wonderful cepaea and MY FIRST EVER CLUTCH OF EGGS! All in all, a good day, even if my heart is still going a mile a minute.
(tl;dr: I'm a bad snail mom and I lost Bill. I found him chilling out in the bin, and I also found a clutch cepaea nemoralis eggs. All snails now accounted for.)
Thanks for the egg congratulations - I now actually have four clutches! Three in the cepaea nemoralis tank, and one in the cepaea hortensis tank. Super excited!